To help prevent medical errors due to patient misidentification, many hospitals and other heath care providers use patient identification bands, which are secured around a patient's wrist or ankle. Printed on or attached to such identification bands is information such as a patient's name, date of birth, identification number, and sometimes even the patient's picture and an assigned barcode. In addition, identification bands or other medical articles can receive other indicia or markings. Such information or markings can be applied upon the band or article by use of a conventional printer such as a laser printer, an inkjet printer, or a thermal printer for example. Prior to printing upon the band or article, it is preferred that the article be residing in a sheet form so that the sheet(s) containing the band or article can be fed directly into the printer. This practice requires that the band, article, and/or sheet containing such, be relatively thin and yet be sufficiently stable and rigid to undergo feeding and passage into the printer. Thus, the sheet and its component layers and materials must withstand the mechanical and thermal stresses of printing or other like operation.
Sheeted medical articles are known in the art, including those which carry or incorporate one or more band products such as wristbands or ankle bands. For patients with delicate or sensitive skin, it would be desirable to provide a skin contacting material in an identification band that is soft and does not irritate the skin. Although such materials are somewhat known in the art, they are typically expensive and/or are difficult to incorporate in a sheet or web form. Also, problems may arise with certain sheeted articles if the relatively long band products are not firmly retained in the sheet during printing or other operations prior to removal and affixment to a patient. For example, the band products may lift up or become detached along one or more edges from their associated sheet and thereby become lodged in a printer. In addition, the bands may undergo wrinkling or other unwanted changes.
Accordingly, a need exists for a sheeted article providing one or more band products which are securely retained in the sheet, yet which can be readily removed when desired. Moreover, it would be particularly desirable to provide such a sheeted article that can withstand the mechanical and thermal stresses of printing, exhibits desirable skin-contacting qualities such as softness, and is relatively inexpensive.